Cyprus, as I Saw It in 1879

by Sir Samuel White Baker

Cyprus: Trooditissa Monastery, 4400 feet above the sea 21 September, 1879.

Messrs. Macmillan & Co.

MY DEAR SIRS,

If I am in time to secure the last efforts of the printer perhaps this letter in its integrity may convey the information which the autumnal season has afforded. The difficulty of all writers upon strange countries lies in their short experience. Each month exhibits the changes of nature in seasons, meteorological phenomena, and vegetation; thus the full twelve months should form the data for a detailed description. I closed my account of Cyprus in August; since which fruits have ripened and various changes have developed—all have afforded information.

Taxation in kind, and Government valuation of produce while growing, has been a crying evil that I have endeavoured to bring before the public as one of those instances of injustice which stamps the oppressive system of the Turkish administration; this unfortunately has not yet been abolished by the British Government. I have already described the arbitrary and unjust laws that fetter the all-important wine trade, which is the principal industry of Limasol; but since I forwarded the manuscript to England I have myself witnessed the miserable effects of the present laws during the advance of the season in ripening the produce of the vineyards.

Three weeks ago I walked for some hours through the boundless extent of grape cultivation at the foot of the mountains below the village of Phyni; at that time the crop was ripe, and should have been gathered.

The bunches of dark red were equal to the finest hot-house grapes of England, both in weight and in size of berries; the black were about the average of the Black Hamburg; the white were smaller and about the size of the common "sweet-water." A day or two ago I again visited the same vineyards; the grapes had not been gathered, and I computed that at least one-third of the crop was destroyed by the delay. The magnificent bunches of dark red were for the most part shrivelled, one-half the berries upon each cluster being reduced to the appearance of raisins, and utterly devoid of juice, while many of the other varieties were completely withered. The explanation given by the people was simple enough—"The official valuer had not appeared, and without his certificate no grapes could be gathered." There are only three valuers to an extensive district, and it is physically impossible that they can perform their duties, even were they inclined to attend when summoned to each village, in the absence of some special inducement. The actual labour of walking up the abrupt inclines upon the mountain sides which constitute the vineyards is most formidable, and at least four times the staff is necessary, of young and capable men, if the valuation of the crop is to be taken with due consideration to the interests of the grower. The distressing result that I have myself witnessed in the partial destruction of the crops can admit of no excuse, but it exhibits a painful example of mal-administration in the ruin attendant upon a Turkish system of taxation.

Some persons may suggest that the dried and withered grapes would be saleable as raisins: this is not the case. Raisins are not merely dried grapes, as is generally supposed, but the bunch of well-ripened berries is dipped in a strong solution of potash, and is then either suspended or is more generally laid upon a mat to dry. In Cyprus the growers seldom purchase potash, but they dip their grapes in a ley produced from the ashes of certain woods.

The vineyards at this season are swarming with a species of beccaficos, and the population are busy in catching these delicious birds with sticks smeared with bird-lime. It is a species of finch, a little larger than the chaffinch, the plumage a brownish grey; when plucked the body is much larger than the common beccaficos, but resembles it in extraordinary fatness and delicacy of flavour. The natives preserve them by boiling in commanderia wine, and they are highly appreciated. These must be added to the migratory birds of Cyprus.

The acorns are nearly ripe, and I am assured by the monks that even these insignificant productions pay a tax of 6d. per kilo (about 32 lbs.), and the crop is valued accordingly by the special authority. There are three varieties of large timber oaks in addition to the ilex and the prickly holly-leaved oak. The acorns of the ilex and holly- leaved species are small, but those of the three superior species vary in size, all being much larger than those of England, while one variety measures nearly three inches in length. This is used as food, with no other preparation than simple roasting, and is considered to be superior to chestnuts. The Ancient Britons used the acorn as an article of food, and probably it was ground into flour after the bitter principle had been extracted by soaking in running water, in the same manner that many varieties of wild yams are treated by the natives in Africa. In addition to the use of the acorn as a substitute for chestnuts by the Cypriotes, the large species when roasted black makes excellent coffee without any admixture of the real berry. All the varieties can be used for this purpose, but that already named is preferred as superior in flavour. The English poor are not clever in adaptation, and are known to be strong in prejudices respecting articles of diet, but it appears strange that the use of the acorn has been entirely neglected as an aid to the bulk of pure coffee, which would effect a considerable saving in the household, if the adulteration took place at home.